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Erosion Control Banks & Waterway

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Soil erosion in cropping land causes a loss of productivity, sedimentation in downstream areas and reduces water quality. It can be controlled by maintaining as much cover on the surface of the soil as possible and by managing run-off.

When run-off occurs, it concentrates as it moves downslope towards drainage lines, creeks and rivers.  Whenever run-off concentrates, its potential to cause erosion greatly increases. There are a number of measures that manage run-off in cultivated paddocks in order to minimize erosion including:
  • diversion banks
  • contour banks
  • constructed waterways
  • strip cropping.


To work effectively, these measures involve careful planning, design and implementation.

Here at OptiSurface, we offer a service to plan and design these structures for farmers based on their topographic data and best practice science, or if you have experience in this area you can design them yourself using our software, OptiSurface Designer. Please contact us at support@optisurface.com or phone us to learn more.

Read these for more information:
Run-off control measures for erosion control in cropping land
Contour bank specifications
Maintaining contour banks
Soil conservation waterways – planning and design
Soil conservation waterways – construction and management

Source: Queensland Government, 2017

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